I have a friend from high school that has lived in Nashville for several years now. She is interested in getting a handgun, but has very, very limited experience around firearms. I'm up in New York so I can not help her in person. I'm wondering if there are any good shops in the Nashville area that have top notch customer service for new shooters. I don't want her coming home with a Lorcin .25. I am also interested in getting her some training from certified instructors in a course with other women. Are there any NRA Women on Target or similar programs in or near Nashville? Thanks for the help!

My wife and I have purchased guns from both Franklin Gun Shop and The Reloaders Bench in Mt. Juliet. The folks at both places have always been very helpful and courteous to both of us. Only drawback to Franklin Gun Shop is the premium prices but the do have a nice selection of firearms. She may want to call APPS Training to see about classes for women. I would be more than happy to take your friend to the range to shoot a few of my handguns/rifles and go over some basic info about them before she buys something. If she is interested send me a PM or email and I will send you my contact info.

She needs to go to Guns & Leather in Greenbrier for top notch service and good prices. I don't know about women only training, but I just took the Advanced Concealed Carry course at CIS and I highly recommend it.

We must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men.

I'll second APPS Training...I have taken several classes from Buford, and always enjoy them. They're who I generally recommend,
especially for women. I'm trying to get my wife & one of her girlfriends to take his basic class.

I hear only good things about Guns & Leather, too, but other than a brief visit to their store, have no direct experience with them.

You or your friend should also check out the Tennessee Firearms Association forum as a good additional information resource.

Thanks for the links everybody, this is exactly what I am looking for! I'll be forwarding all of this good information along to her shortly. Thanks for helping a New York boy out! (Although I was at Fort Campbell for a spell and spent many a day and night wandering around your beautiful state.) The classes don't have to be women only, but I think she'd be more comfortable in classes with at least a few other women.

Hero Gear in Winchester (an hour southeast of Nashville) is the best gun shop in the state.
If you go that direction, check out The Outpost Armory in Murfreesboro, too. It's pretty good.

Guns n Leather in Greenbrier (about 30 minutes north of Nashville) will give Hero Gear a run for the money as best gun shop in the state.

Out east, The Armory in Lebanon, TN (35 minutes east of Nashville) is a newer shop - good prices and decent selection.
If you go that way, visit the Reloader's Bench in my town of Mt. Juliet.

There are others.
Franklin gun shop has a good selection - and they are proud of it. The prices show that fact.
Gun City, USA and Guns for America are both OK.
There are others, but none that I can endorse - either due to a philosophical difference, or just because they are smaller and less consistent in selection in pricing.

Yeah, well good luck getting more than ONE person in front of their counter. Why they don't move to a larger store baffles me to no end....................

You could say the same thing about Guns and Leather. The wife and I went there yesterday and had to stand near the door for almost 5 minutes before we could move to the front counter. Each time we went to move to a different section we had to wait to get by someone...very tight. I did buy a few things while we were there. Nice selection of firearms and accessories and the folks were very nice.

Yeah, well good luck getting more than ONE person in front of their counter. Why they don't move to a larger store baffles me to no end....................

You could say the same thing about Guns and Leather. The wife and I went there yesterday and had to stand near the door for almost 5 minutes before we could move to the front counter. Each time we went to move to a different section we had to wait to get by someone...very tight. I did buy a few things while we were there. Nice selection of firearms and accessories and the folks were very nice.

G&L is opening a new store in Hendersonville soon.

We must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men.

No one like Gun City downtown? They are kinda tools but the class was easy enough on a Sunday for 8 hours, taught by a TBI guy and they have pistols to "borrow or rent" for the class. Walther 22s. Again, not necessarily the place to buy from, but for convenience it was a good beginners class. Plus, they let you shoot gangsta style J/K

Originally Posted By bladed45TN:
No one like Gun City downtown? They are kinda tools but the class was easy enough on a Sunday for 8 hours, taught by a TBI guy and they have pistols to "borrow or rent" for the class. Walther 22s. Again, not necessarily the place to buy from, but for convenience it was a good beginners class. Plus, they let you shoot gangsta style J/K

No, I won't return to that store. I, unfortunately, took their HCP class. I believe I paid $160 for it. Guns & Leather is $65. This was back around 2006 before I knew any better.

We must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men.

Originally Posted By bladed45TN:No one like Gun City downtown? They are kinda tools but the class was easy enough on a Sunday for 8 hours, taught by a TBI guy and they have pistols to "borrow or rent" for the class. Walther 22s. Again, not necessarily the place to buy from, but for convenience it was a good beginners class. Plus, they let you shoot gangsta style J/K

About a year and a half ago, I was looking for a particular model of handgun and went to various stores trying to find one in stock. I hadn't set foot in Gun City in well over 10 years, and I decided to give them another chance, since every store I had checked seemed to have a lot of bare shelves. Most of what Gun City still had in stock (for handguns) was Glocks, and I got the chance to see one of their employees explaining the 'tactical advantage' of carrying with an empty chamber. Seems that the bad guys might think you are not serious when you just point a gun at them and tell them to back off, but when you rack the slide before repeating the command, it lets them know that you have a loaded gun and you are prepared to use it.

I doubt I'll ever set foot in Gun City again.

Academy, at Cool Springs, had the handgun I was looking for, and had it at a good price.

+1 on Guns and Leather. Dennis and the guys are great to deal with. Mark Crabtree is one of the class instructors and does an excellent job. Can't go wrong and unlike other places, they don't "talk down" to the ladies.

I don't know what you were looking at there (Outpost Armory), but my friend and I have purchased several firearms from them at near auction prices. They've always been extremely helpful, and more than willing to come down on the prices.

I like ASP in Joelton. It's a smaller shop, but a great bunch of guys there and good prices. They have always been very helpful. I've been to Guns n Leather a few times and I'll never go back if I can help it. I've bought 2 pistols from there and customer service sucked each time. My wife bought an HK P30L from there and went back 2-3 days later to use their range. She was told that she couldn't buy any ammo from them since she didn't purchase a gun that day. I know this was back during the crazy ammo shortage, but come on! I also placed an order for a class III item about 2 years ago. I'm still waiting on the dealer transfer...........whatever. The Outpost has a lot of great guns. That is where I get all my ammo from too. They always have several cases of whatever I need on hand. I've yet to purchase a gun from them, but I will be getting a class III item from them soon.

Originally Posted By joshr502:I like ASP in Joelton. It's a smaller shop, but a great bunch of guys there and good prices. They have always been very helpful. I've been to Guns n Leather a few times and I'll never go back if I can help it. I've bought 2 pistols from there and customer service sucked each time. My wife bought an HK P30L from there and went back 2-3 days later to use their range. She was told that she couldn't buy any ammo from them since she didn't purchase a gun that day. I know this was back during the crazy ammo shortage, but come on! I also placed an order for a class III item about 2 years ago. I'm still waiting on the dealer transfer...........whatever. The Outpost has a lot of great guns. That is where I get all my ammo from too. They always have several cases of whatever I need on hand. I've yet to purchase a gun from them, but I will be getting a class III item from them soon.

2 years on a NFA dealer transfer and still waiting...WTF! I would be freakin' pissed at someone! Are you having the item transferred from an out of state dealer or is it from the manufacture? I've only had one dealer transfer take longer than 3 weeks and that was a few years ago.

Originally Posted By Tahawus:
I have a friend from high school that has lived in Nashville for several years now. She is interested in getting a handgun, but has very, very limited experience around firearms. I'm up in New York so I can not help her in person. I'm wondering if there are any good shops in the Nashville area that have top notch customer service for new shooters. I don't want her coming home with a Lorcin .25. I am also interested in getting her some training from certified instructors in a course with other women. Are there any NRA Women on Target or similar programs in or near Nashville? Thanks for the help!

Guns n Leather in Greenbrier, best shop locally hands down.

Ask for any of the Williams or Mr. Crabtree. I know a good bit of women that take classes there.

Originally Posted By joshr502:I like ASP in Joelton. It's a smaller shop, but a great bunch of guys there and good prices. They have always been very helpful. I've been to Guns n Leather a few times and I'll never go back if I can help it. I've bought 2 pistols from there and customer service sucked each time. My wife bought an HK P30L from there and went back 2-3 days later to use their range. She was told that she couldn't buy any ammo from them since she didn't purchase a gun that day. I know this was back during the crazy ammo shortage, but come on! I also placed an order for a class III item about 2 years ago. I'm still waiting on the dealer transfer...........whatever. The Outpost has a lot of great guns. That is where I get all my ammo from too. They always have several cases of whatever I need on hand. I've yet to purchase a gun from them, but I will be getting a class III item from them soon.

2 years on a NFA dealer transfer and still waiting...WTF! I would be freakin' pissed at someone! Are you having the item transferred from an out of state dealer or is it from the manufacture? I've only had one dealer transfer take longer than 3 weeks and that was a few years ago.

It was from an out of state dealer. I wanted an SWR HEMSII. I dealt with Denis directly. I've emailed him several times (since I'm overseas) and I finally gave up after about a year. Turns out, he doesn't like to do Class III items. I think he should get rid of his Class III license then.